CIAA hosts 2009 IAAF World Athletics Day

(CNS): In celebration of World Athletics Day, the Cayman Islands Athletic Association will be one of the 160 IAAF Member Federations (out of 213members in total) requesting to participate in the International Association of Federations (IAAF) World Athletics Day. The annual worldwide festival of youth is one of the busiest programmes of competitions in the global Athletics calendar which continues to be as popular as ever, a release from the CIAA says.

Until last year, the festival, inaugurated in 1996, had always been held on a designated weekend each year. While the weekend of Saturday 16 & Sunday 17 May 2009 is the preferred time for the IAAF’s Member Federations to celebrate the IAAF World Athletics Day however, the option of holding their celebration at any time in the month of May if it suits their arrangements better has been allowed in an effort to aid the greatest possible number of participating Federations.

Cayman’s Meet will take place on Saturday, 16 May, at 9:00am at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex for Youth Age Group children who were born in 1992-1993 (16-17 years old). Also participating will be boys and girls born in 1994-1995-1996 (13-15 years old) in keeping with the goal of the IAAF Athletics’ World Plan, for the fourth year, to make Athletics the number one sport in schools. 143 of the Member Federations have signed-up for the School element known as the ‘Minimes’ age group.

As in the past, once all competition results have been received by the IAAF, there will be a draw of national winners for the Youth Age Group and the “Minimes” School Children sometime in the month of June. The World Athletics Day 2009 Draw will determine the winners, that is 12 children from the Youth Age Group (1 Boy and 1 Girl by Area) from the winners of Club competitions, and 6 youngsters (13-15 years old, 1 per Area) from the winners of School Individual competitions.

The 18 ‘lucky winners’ of the draws from the individual competitions will be invited to attend part of the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Berlin, Germany (August 2009 – *travel and full-board accommodation costs covered by the IAAF). In addition, 6 Teams (13-15 years old, 1 per Area) from the winners of School Team competitions will be drawn and each shall receive one set of youth athletics equipment for their school.

In Cayman, registration is open to ages 11 and above to give the CAC age group some more exposure to their events. Forms are available at schools, the CIAA’s office at the Sports Complex or by contacting Coach Williams at 323-0163, Coach Yen at 925-6917 or Coach Wason at 916-6966. Registration closes at 6:00pm on Thursday, May 14, 2009.

The events being contested are as follows:

FIELD EVENTS AGE GROUPS
LONG JUMP M/F 11 – 12, 13 – 14, 15 – 16, 17 & OVER
HIGH JUMP M/F 11 – 12, 13 – 14, 15 – 16, 17 & OVER
SHOT PUT M/F 13 – 14, 15 – 16, 17 & OVER
BALL THROW M/F 11 – 12, 13 – 14
DISCUS M/F 15 -16, 17 & OVER
JAVELIN M/F 15 – 16, 17 & OVER

RUNNING EVENTS AGE GROUP
60M HUR F 13 – 14
80M HUR M 13 – 14
400M HUR M/F 15 -16, 17 & OVER
100M HUR M/F 15 -16, 17 & OVER
60M M/F 11 – 12
80M M/F 13 – 14
100M M/F 15 – 16, 17 & OVER
800M F 11 -12
800M M/F 15 -16, 17 & OVER
400M M/F 15 -16, 17 & OVER
200M M/F 15 -16, 17 & OVER
1000M 11 – 12 (Boys), 13 -14 (Girls)
1200M M 13 -14
1500M M/F 15 -16, 17 & OVER

The pubic is invited to come out and show their support.